PROPERTIES OF THE TULIP. 107 
size before they are potted off, as they are very liable to damp off if 
potted when small. The summer station for Alpines should be chosen 
with an aspect as near north as possible, and where they will not be 
exposed to the sun more than two hours in the morning; but they 
must by no means be under the shade or drip of trees. They should 
be placed on, or plunged in, finely-sifted coal-ashes, and every means 
taken to keep worms from them. As there is no class of plants which 
are sooner destroyed, either by drought or excess of heat, too much 
attention cannot be paid to watering them, in order to keep them, and 
the ground around them, constantly moist; but they should never be 
indiscriminately watered all over with a coarse-rosed watering-pot, or 
exposed to heavy rain. In the month of November they should be 
placed in their winter quarters, at which time the pots should be care- 
fully examined, and any that are infected with worms should be turned 
out of the pot, and the worms picked out, without disturbing the boles. 
After they are placed in the frame or pit, all the air possible must be 
given them in fine weather, and they must be carefully and sparingly 
watered, examining them frequently, and removing all signs of damp 
or mould that appears. 
An extended descriptive list of Alpines would not be suitable for 
one number of the Canine, but the following genera contain a large 
portion of the best and most showy species :—Alyssum, Anagallis, 
Anemone, Arabis, Arenaria, Asperula, Aubrietia, Bellis, Bulbocodium, 
Campanula, Cerastium, Coronilla, Cyclamen, Cypripedium, Cruci- 
anella, Dianthus, Draba, Dryas, Dracocephalum, Elichrysum, Epi- 
medium, Erica, Fumaria, Gentiana, Galium, Geranium, Gysophilla, 
Geum, Hepatica, Helianthemum, Hieracium, Iberis, Iris, Jasione, 
Lamium, Lathyrus, Linaria, Lithospermum, Lotus, Lychnis, Lysi- 
machia, Myosotis, Mesembryanthemum, Ophrys, Orchis, Orobus, 
Oxalis, Papaver, Phlox, Polygala, Potentilla, Primula, Pulmonaria, 
Pulsatilla, Pyrola, Ranunculus, Saxifraga, Scilla, Sedum, Semper- 
vivum, Silene, Soldanella, Spergula, Stellaria, Trillium, Veronica, 
Viola, Vinca. To these may be added the numerous dwarfs of the 
Ferns and Mosses. 
Most of your readers are acquainted with these various families of 
plants, and the nurserymen who keep large collections of herbaceous 
plants would be able to make a selection of the best for any person not 
acquainted with the general species. 
PROPERTIES OF THE TULIP. 
Mr. Guewny insists that anything between the half and the third of a 
ball is the perfection of a Tulip, and instances the diagram which we 
have here copied in illustration. 
He claims to have been the first to publish the fact (for he will call 
it nothing less) that a Tulip ought to be a portion of a hollow ball, or, 
in other words, spherical, so far as it goes. He denies that the Tulip 
is one jot better or worse in shape whether it is half a ball in the 
morning or expands to the third of a larger ball at noon or in the 
afternoon; and if the Tulip will not expand to the third of a ball 
